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Jealousy and envy aren’t the easiest emotions to deal with, particularly in a work context.

It can be hard to admit, even to yourself, that you’re envious of that colleague or peer who seems to have everything that you want.

They might have a better job, be up for promotion more often, get to go on international work trips, use a company car, take home a bigger paycheck or receive more praise from people higher up than you do.

It doesn’t matter what the specifics of the situation are; when you compare yourself to them, you always come up short.

Workplace jealousy doesn’t just make you feel inferior to colleagues and peers. It can also trigger feelings of shame for having a touch of the green eyed monster.

Envy is one of the seven deadly sins according to Christian teachings, and doesn’t have a reputation for being a positive emotion.

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While jealousy and envy are not strictly interchangeable (envy was wanting something, jealousy was about guarding something), they have become synonymous in modern times and we’ll mostly use jealousy here.

The negative reputation of jealousy means that experiencing it can plunge people into spirals of self-criticism for feeling such a ‘bad’ emotion.

It can get in the way of perfectly good relationships with others, and leave people paralysed and unable to perform or enjoy any of their own successes.

In a workplace where effective communication and teamwork are required, feelings of bitterness and jealousy can seriously disrupt matters.

There are plenty of downsides to professional jealousy, but can it ever be harnessed for good?

‘A bit of professional envy may not always be a bad thing,’ he tells Metro.co.uk.

‘If you are experiencing professional jealousy at a particular point in your life, then you might want to take a step back and examine why you feel this way.’

Feelings of injustice, of ‘I’ve worked just as hard as Linda so why has she just been promoted?’, or ‘smug Gary’s sci-fi novel has been optioned for a Netflix series while mine’s still looking for a publisher’ are common in a workplace.

‘In my experience, working in central London, it can be very common,’ Betts says.

‘We are increasingly being encouraged to compare ourselves to others, via a social media culture and an increased pressure to succeed quickly due to the shorter term nature of many jobs.

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‘This combination can often leave people feeling anxious that they are lacking something or they are not where they “should be”.’

Instead of denying the emotion or allowing it to fester inside you, Betts advises that you ask yourself some honest questions.

‘What is it about the other person’s success that you like? Are you viewing their work life through rose-tinted glasses?

‘Are there any things that you are perhaps projecting about their experience or position that are not entirely realistic?’

You should be able to articulate exactly what it is that the object of your jealousy has that you really want.

Is it a particular achievement or accolade? Is it money? Is it recognition?

(Picture: Phebe Lou Morson for Metro.co.uk)

If you don’t actually work with the subject of your envy and instead see their career through the lens of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or LinkedIn, consider whether what they have is really all it’s cracked up to be.

Are you seeing an image of someone’s professional life through the distorted mirror of social media, and failing to grasp that they have zero work life balance, get up at 4:30am every day and do a three-hour commute before making coffee for their racist boss?

Are you consumed with an image of someone’s career that isn’t even real?

Once you’ve identified what you want, Betts advises thinking about what you’re willing to do to get there.

He says: ‘What are the barriers?

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‘Are they in your own confidence or in your current working environment? Once you identify this, then you can potentially make changes.

‘Often we can project a fantasy of how great and easy someone else has it. But if you can be realistic and honest with yourself, maybe something good can come from it.’

Mike Betts does make a distinction between being professionally envious of someone and feeling jealous of the people around you to the point that it’s poisoning your life.

‘If you’re experiencing chronic jealousy throughout your life, by comparing yourself to others, then of course this is unhealthy and it would be good to look at that.

‘Perpetually confirming a perceived inferiority through comparison to others will only lead to distress and will never provide a healthy outcome.’

He also notes that although jealousy can be a motivating factor, it lead to a never-ending cycle of dissatisfaction.

Even when you get where you want to go, you might find a new set of colleagues and peers to feel envious of, meaning that no achievement is ever enough.

‘The experience of anxiety and envy in a professional context is most prevalent in people who tend to constantly compare themselves to others, to either confirm some feelings of inferiority they have, or to confirm that things never go their way.

‘In these examples, professional envy will absolutely create an endless cycle of dissatisfaction.

‘There will be a propensity to perpetually compare your professional status negatively to someone else and this tendency will doubtlessly expand beyond your professional life.’

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James has experienced professional jealousy throughout his working life, despite enjoying a successful career that has spanned 35 years.

‘I think professional jealousy has been one of the driving forces of my career,’ he tells Metro.co.uk.

‘I have never looked up to the hierarchy and thought “he or she is there because they are better than me”.

‘I’ve always thought they are there because they are luckier than me. And I hate that and it spurred me on.

‘It gets worse as you grow older, because suddenly you see all these young people being given jobs that you want in New York, Washington etc.

‘It can be motivating to feel jealous if it drives you on, but it can also be negative.

‘In the business I work in, there’s a lot of resentment towards people who have been given great jobs without deserving them.’

James, a comprehensively educated man, says that there is little he can do about some of the advantages others have so there is little point in being jealous of them.

‘So what if someone went to private school and Oxbridge?’ he says.

‘Does that make them good at the job? Of course not, but it’s often a ticket to an easy ride. And I don’t have that ticket.

‘I wish I didn’t look at some of my colleagues with envy, but I still do, just as I did 35 years ago when I started in the job.’

Professional jealousy can give some people the kick they need to identify what they want and go after it. Others find it debilitating and toxic.

For some, it provides a short-term fix of motivation that keeps them climbing the ladder but ultimately keeps them unhappy, raising more questions about the nature of professional satisfaction and when you should pause to enjoy what you have rather than craving the next thing simply because someone else has it.

If you can utilise professional jealousy as a tool, that’s great. Just make sure that it doesn’t take on a life of its own and remember to keep it in perspective.